Cosmological imprints of string axions in plateau

We initiate a study on various cosmological imprints of string axions whose scalar potentials have plateau regions. In such cases, we show that a delayed onset of oscillation generically leads to a parametric resonance instability. In particular, for ultralight axions, the parametric resonance can enhance the power spectrum slightly below the Jeans scale, alleviating the tension with the Lyman $\alpha$ forest observations. We also argue that a long-lasting resonance can lead to an emission of gravitational waves at the frequency bands which are detectable by gravitational wave interferometers and pulsar timing arrays.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures; v2: references added, v3: matches with the published versio

Conservation of ζ\zeta with radiative corrections from heavy field

In this paper, we address a possible impact of radiative corrections from a heavy scalar field $\chi$ on the curvature perturbation $\zeta$. Integrating out $\chi$, we derive the effective action for $\zeta$, which includes the loop corrections of the heavy field $\chi$. When the mass of $\chi$ is much larger than the Hubble scale $H$, the loop corrections of $\chi$ only yield a local contribution to the effective action and hence the effective action simply gives an action for $\zeta$ in a single field model, where, as is widely known, $\zeta$ is conserved in time after the Hubble crossing time. Meanwhile, when the mass of $\chi$ is comparable to $H$, the loop corrections of $\chi$ can give a non-local contribution to the effective action. Because of the non-local contribution from $\chi$, in general, $\zeta$ may not be conserved, even if the classical background trajectory is determined only by the evolution of the inflaton. In this paper, we derive the condition that $\zeta$ is conserved in time in the presence of the radiative corrections from $\chi$. Namely, we show that when the scaling symmetry, which is a part of the diffeomorphism invariance, is preserved at the quantum level, the loop corrections of the massive field $\chi$ do not disturb the constant evolution of $\zeta$ at super Hubble scales. In this discussion, we show the Ward-Takahashi identity for the scaling symmetry, which yields a consistency relation for the correlation functions of the massive field $\chi$.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure; v2: updated references and minor revision

Strong restriction on inflationary vacua from the local gauge invariance I: Local gauge invariance and infrared regularity

The primordial perturbation is widely accepted to be generated through the vacuum fluctuation of the scalar field which drives inflation. It is, however, not completely clear what is the natural vacuum in the inflationary universe particularly in the presence of non-linear interactions. In this series of papers, we will address this issue, focusing on the condition required for the removal of the divergence from the infrared (IR) contribution to loop diagrams. We show that requesting the gauge invariance in the local observable universe guarantees the IR regularity of the loop corrections beginning with a simple initial state. In our previous works, the IR regularity condition was discussed using the slow roll expansion, which restricts the background evolution of the inflationary universe. We will show more generally that requesting the gauge invariance/the IR regularity leads to non-trivial constraints on the allowed quantum states.Comment: 14 page

Strong restriction on inflationary vacua from the local gauge invariance III: Infrared regularity of graviton loops

It has been claimed that the super Hubble modes of the graviton generated during inflation can make loop corrections diverge. Even if we introduce an infrared (IR) cutoff at a comoving scale as an ad hoc but a practical way for the regularization, we encounter the secular growth, which may lead to the breakdown of perturbative expansion for a sufficiently long lasting inflation. In this paper, we show that the IR pathology concerning the graviton can be attributed to the presence of residual gauge degrees of freedom in the local observable universe as in the case of the adiabatic curvature perturbation. We will show that choosing the Euclidean vacuum as the initial state ensures the invariance under the above-mentioned residual gauge transformations. We will also show that as long as we consider a gauge invariant quantity in the local universe, we encounter neither the IR divergence nor the secular growth. The argument in this paper applies to general single field models of inflation up to a sufficiently high order in perturbation.Comment: 34 pages; v2: minor revision, published in PTEP. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1306.446

Holographic inflation and the conservation of ζ\zeta

In a holographic description of inflation, cosmological time evolution in the bulk is expected to correspond to the renomalization group (RG) flow in a dual boundary theory. Here, we analyze this expectation by computing the correlation functions of the curvature perturbation $\zeta$ holographically. For this purpose, we use a deformed conformal field theory at the boundary, with a single deformation operator. In standard single field models of inflation, $\zeta$ is known to be conserved at large scales under very general conditions. However, we find that this is not generically the case in the dual description. The requirement that higher correlators of $\zeta$ should be conserved severely restricts the possibilities for the RG flow. With such restriction, the power spectrum $P_\zeta$ must follow an exact power law, at least within the regime of validity of conformal perturbation theory.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure; v2: version to appear in JHE